Preparing L&D Teams for Agentic AI with Adrienne Smith of Samsara
We’re joined by Adrienne Smith, Manager of Global Learning and AI Development at Samsara, to discuss how AI is reshaping L&D and what the rise of agentic AI means for learning teams.Adrienne explains the shift from generative AI tools to agentic AI...
Learning Leader Spotlight: Interviews with corporate L&D leaders · Leigh Anne Lankford
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Show Notes
We’re joined by Adrienne Smith, Manager of Global Learning and AI Development at Samsara, to discuss how AI is reshaping L&D and what the rise of agentic AI means for learning teams.
Adrienne explains the shift from generative AI tools to agentic AI systems that can take action across multiple tools and workflows. She shares practical advice on where L&D teams should start, how to identify the right tasks for automation and why governance and ethics will become one of the most important responsibilities for learning leaders.
We also explore how L&D roles may evolve into learning or agent architects, ensuring AI-driven learning experiences remain aligned with organizational goals, sound learning science and responsible data use.
Key Takeaways:
00:00 Introduction.
05:02 L&D’s shift from order taking to being a strategic business partner that’s aligned with organizational goals.
06:15 The difference between generative AI and agentic AI; moving from prompt-based responses to goal-driven systems that take actions across tools.
08:10 Why agent building is becoming more accessible as new tools reduce the need for extensive coding.
11:55 Start with high-friction, low-variability tasks when identifying opportunities to build AI agents.
14:10 Departments may begin deploying their own agents, requiring L&D to rethink its role as a learning architect or agent architect.
16:45 Ethics and governance will become a defining capability for L&D professionals working with AI.
18:10 Teams must slow down initially to learn AI tools, and experimentation is essential for adoption.
21:00 Building an AI agent to automate weekly onboarding communications.
23:05 AI should augment human expertise, not replace foundational L&D skills and learning science.
Resources Mentioned:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/adrmsmith/
http://www.linkedin.com/company/samsara/
"Co-Intelligence" by Ethan Mollick
https://www.amazon.co.za/dp/059371671X
Ethan Mollick Newsletter "One Useful Thing"
https://www.oneusefulthing.org
ROI Institute (Jack & Patti Phillips)
https://roiinstitute.net
https://www.kirkpatrickpartners.com/the-kirkpatrick-model/
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